Smeal Faculty, Executives Discuss Leadership Development At Special Task Force Meeting

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (January 31, 2007) – Administrators and faculty from Penn State's Smeal College of Business held a Special Task Force Meeting yesterday in the Washington area with a team of leading executives to discuss leadership development and future trends in executive education.

Smeal Dean James Thomas, Associate Dean for Executive Education Pat Cataldo, and select Smeal faculty members from Penn State Executive Programs—Smeal's executive education division—met with a diverse group of leaders from organizations including Gallup, Fannie Mae, Liberty Mutual, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Capital One hosted the meeting at its headquarters in McLean, Va.

The group discussed what's ahead in executive education and what skills, services, and delivery methods executive education providers should be planning for the future. Participants shared what their organizations are doing now to develop leaders and how executive education programs can help fill leadership positions.

"The success of any executive education program depends on the alignment of the needs of the organization with the capabilities of the provider," said Thomas.

Cataldo added: "By meeting with this group of forward-thinking leaders, who can tell us their greatest future needs in executive education, we will be better able to anticipate the future needs of all of our clients."

Participating in the Special Task Force Meeting were Frank Anderson, president, Defense Acquisition University; Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO, The Gallup Organization; Richard Jaross, director of training, Liberty Mutual Group; Frank Kent, vice president of human resources, Tandberg USA; Captain James R. Montgomery, reserve program administrator and assistant director of individual and family support programs, U.S. Coast Guard; Matt Schuyler, chief human resources officer, Capital One; Rebecca Shambaugh, CEO, Shambaugh Leadership Group; Terry Stringer, manager of learning and development, El Paso Corp.; Bridgette Weitzel, vice president for organization and talent development, Fannie Mae; and William Zeigler Jr., vice president of human resources and organizational development.

In addition to Cataldo and Thomas, the participants from Smeal were Fariborz Ghadar, William A. Schreyer chair of global management and director, Center for Global Business Studies; Ed Reutzel, senior associate dean; Jeff Spearly, managing director, Penn State Executive Programs; Gini Ticker, senior executive development consultant, Penn State Executive Programs; and Al Vicere, executive education professor of strategic leadership.

About Penn State Executive Programs
Penn State Executive Programs has been serving the development needs of the world’s business leaders since 1954, providing both open-enrollment and custom programs. Nearly 36,000 executives from 43 different nations have participated in programs on topics ranging from strategic leadership to supply chain management.

Penn State Executive Programs was recently ranked as the No. 1 provider in the world of customized executive education programs by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of The Economist magazine publisher. The EIU also awarded Penn State Executive Programs its Award of Excellence for open-enrollment programs, making Smeal the only U.S. provider to be rated excellent in both categories.

For more on Penn State Executive Programs, visit www.smeal.psu.edu/psep.